Pedestrian Accident Claims

What are the most common pedestrian accident claims?

There are many sets of circumstances where pedestrian accident claims can occur but the most common instances arise from a smaller pool of possibilities. As a pedestrian, accidents can take place within a wide range of settings but the biggest danger comes from road users in all their forms.

 

These are some of the incidents that can see pedestrian accident claims arise:

 

  • Pedestrian hit by a car or other motorised vehicle

  • Pedestrian hit by a cyclist

  • Trip or fall due to poorly maintained roads and pavements

  • Accidents with other pedestrians

 

In the main, your personal injury solicitor will be dealing with two types of accident. For a pedestrian hit by a car, insurance claims will follow while a pedestrian hit by a cyclist will also claim via the personal injury route. The above is a comprehensive list but it isn’t necessarily complete so, if you have suffered personal injury as a pedestrian and it wasn’t your fault, please get in touch. 

 

What are the most common pedestrian accident injuries?

Accidents involving motorised vehicles are among the most common and they can lead to some typical types of injury. For those getting hit by a car injuries can manifest in a number of forms but the following are among the most likely:

 

  • Soft tissue damage including bruising, lacerations and dislocations

  • Broken bones and fractures

 

Those injuries can vary greatly in terms of their severity and the range of pedestrian accident claims is very wide. 

 

What happens if you get hit by a car?

If you are a pedestrian hit by a car, what to do next is the obvious question. Details of the incident should be fully recorded and this information would typically include the make, model and registration number of the vehicle, the driver’s name and address and the circumstances of the incident. Supporting photographs can be useful and should be relatively easy to capture via a mobile phone.

 

But what happens if you get hit by a car and it’s not possible to take that information immediately? The driver may leave the scene or the injuries may be so severe that it’s not possible to record those details straight away.

 

In these cases, a solicitor should be appointed immediately and the essential information can still be pursued via any eye witness and/or Garda reports. Once collated, injured pedestrians can proceed to the next stage.

 

How to make a claim for a pedestrian accident?

Irrespective of the circumstances, if injuries have been sustained then the incident must be referred, in the first instance, to Ireland’s Injuries Board. A solicitor with extensive experience of pedestrian accident claims can handle all the paperwork on your behalf. 

 

Once your solicitor has notified the board, the claims procedure can take further steps which will determine the circumstances leading to the accident, the severity of the injuries sustained and any associated costs. As soon as all of that information has been established, the claim is submitted to the authorities and, if it is upheld, the level of compensation will then be assessed. 

 

How long after a pedestrian accident can you claim?

There are rules in place governed by the statute of limitation and these state that injured parties have up to two years in which to file their claim. The period in question relates to the ‘date of knowledge’ which refers to the time when injuries sustained were known to be significant.

 

In the majority of cases, the date of knowledge will be identical to the date of the incident but this won’t always happen. Some injuries won’t manifest themselves immediately and it may be several days, or possibly longer, for them to materialize. In all types of pedestrian accident claims, it is recommended that injuries are reported as soon as they manifest but claimants should be aware of that two year limitation.

 

What is the average payout for a pedestrian accident claim?

A number of factors combine when it comes to deciding on the exact payout following a pedestrian accident claim. The severity of the injuries are an obvious case in point and, in general, there may be more compensation for getting hit by a car than with any other set of circumstances.

 

Beyond the issues of injuries sustained, there may be other factors including:

 

  • Cost of medical bills

  • Loss of earnings

  • Cost of ongoing medical treatment if applicable

 

It is, however, possible to look at a rough average payout based on genuine historical pedestrian accident claims. 

 

Following minor trips and falls, there may be soft tissue damage or possibly broken bones and fractures. Depending on the severity of these cases, pedestrian accident claims where these injuries are sustained may be settled in the region of 1500 to 2000 Euros.

 

For more severe incidents where multiple fractures and longer term hospital stays are concerned, the sums involved can rise to 10,000 Euros and above. Because there are so many contributory factors, we urge injured parties to get in touch and discuss their own personal circumstances. At that point, a more accurate figure pertaining to the specific case can be ascertained.